Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : JoeUSA -- LOW BID, POOR SERVICE HOSTING -- CHEATED OUT OF MONEY W/ NO SVC PROVIDED.

I had 2 annual accounts with joeusa.com for my website hosting (2 websites). I was a 3-year customer, somewhat disatisfied with tech support service but without time to change hosting servers. My email quit receiving on one website/account about 2 weeks ago. Joe told me they had changed out a hosting server & that was likely the issue. I continued to have no email with Joe being evasive & nonhelpful. Upon logging into the control panel, I noted I was blocked out. I finally got him to agree to check on it, & he stated that the host spam blockers were not activated, & there was too much spam. I had made no changes, so the spam blockers had to be deactivated when they changed servers with no notification to me.
Joe shut down both of my accounts refusing me a prorated refund. I had paid one on Sept. 6 through PayPal for 1 year & the other on Nov. 6 through PayPal, also for a year. I was told by PayPal that they do not cover services, so FYI on PayPal, buyer beware. Joe gave me 24 hours to take my websites down. He also wiped out all of my email that was on the server that I had not been able to receive for the last 2 weeks & I lost all of it with no access to it.
I have email proof of what transpired & only want a prorated refund, what is fair, because I have not received near the full year service purchased for both accounts. He has refused, and I am considering filing fraud charges. My email documentation shows how a simple tech support issue turned into his cheating me out of my money when he cancelled both services & refused any prorated refund.
I have no idea why he has acted so vindictively, including wiping all non-spam email off the server that I was never able to receive, but, based on some of his comments, I believe that he either did not like our Judeo-Christian website or that he had been reading some of my personal email with political comments in the recent election. He was not even aware of my 2nd account until I made him aware that there were two, but he was aware of the ministry website/account, where the email issues were. The other account had no issues, but he cancelled both. Also, the Judeo-Christian ministry website had been hacked on his server by someone alleging to be Islamic about a year ago.
I am not making this report in vengeance. I am only trying to keep the same thing from happening to other consumers. This is a low-bid hosting company, and, once again the old adage, "You get what you pay for," is proven true.

[Mike V]

Can you please post the website you host with them? If you would rather just tell the moderation team privately, use this link: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/report.php?p=5535167. We will not make it public. Thanks!

[Mike V]

Thanks, Robin09 has confirmed past experience as a JoeUSA customer.

[Softsys Hosting]

... or that he had been reading some of my personal email with political comments in the recent election. ...
If this is actually the case, this is a serious offense and hosts are not allowed to read their customer's emails unless they have any kind of legal authorization to do so.
- Rick

Hi Rick and Mike.....
I am not certain he read my email, but something he said made me realize there was something about us he did not like, and not knowing us, it had to be the site or the email.
I have gone ahead and filed a BBB complaint at this point. I am disputing not the whole purchase but only the prorated amount for the service remaining in the year. I believe in just weights and balances. I don't want a full refund, as he did provide service on one account for four months and on the other for about two months.
You know, I don't know why people just don't do what's right. It's so much easier for everyone!
Y'all have a good one!

[ldcdc]

Their action may have been pure retaliation on your decision to fill a paypal dispute. Few hosts would take a fancy to that, and even less so one that relies on Paypal as the only way to process payments.
I have gone ahead and filed a BBB complaint at this point. It won't hurt, though they have no real power.
Now, from http://hosting.joeusa.com/aup.html :
IMPORTANT NOTICE: *All hosting Payments To JoeUSA.com Are Non-Refundable*
Tough stuff.

[TheSimpleHost-Nathan]

Their website is really not very helpful in terms of information. I'd stay away from them based upon that alone.

No.... I did not file the PayPal dispute until after he told me to get off of his servers and refused the prorated refund I requested following that. All of this was after I simply sought tech support to get my blocked email off of his server. Following his service cutoff and refusal of prorated refund, I then filed with PayPal. All of this is documented. He had some sort of issue with me without knowing anything about me, other than seeing our website and/or possibly our private email.
He did not always rely on PayPal to process payments. Prior to that, he was using a service that was called, I believe, 2CO. It is my guess that PayPal, in not backing buyers in service, is possibly a convenient service for him to use, and that was the reason for the switch.
As far as payments being refundable, I don't remember that being on his site when I first signed on as a customer, but even if it was, the agreement was a legal contract, a certain payment for a year's worth of service. In that legal contract, I have a reasonable expectation that I will receive the full year I have paid for without being arbitrarily cut off. If he decides on a whim to end the service of customers who have paid, then customers made aware of this will not sign with him. That is my desire and hope in posting; that no one else gets stolen from.
The bottom line is that, through no action of my own, I was cheated out of the remaining service due me. This is theft, plain and simple. I did not quit the service and request a refund. I was cut off with no legitimate reason to be done that way, and my money was kept for a service I was wrongly denied.
As far as the BBB, my motive in filing a complaint there is the same as posting here. I only want to warn others about this dishonest service that apparently scams people out of money at will. I still am considering a criminal fraud complaint. There are several avenues to choose in filing this. A small claims civil suit will be the last option I'll consider, after considering filing of a fraud case.
"Tough stuff?" I am suspicious that I am speaking with Joe, here? If not, please let me know if you own a hosting company. I'll want to steer clear of yours too, though I wish you the best, Joe or Whoever.... I just hope if this is you, Joe, that you will be stopped from scamming people at whim. I am sorry for you that you treat people badly, and I hope life improves for you.

TSH-Nathan....
You are right about that. And tech support there has always been somewhat difficult, but I stayed there because the price was low, and I didn't have time to switch hosts.
I did a quick search on joeusa and noted that there were some postings in the past here in this forum that I wish I had known about and read before signing up with him. I didn't know about this site, though, until he sent out an email several months ago requesting people to go here and give a good report on his service. I didn't do that, because I couldn't do that in good faith. I had only nothing to negative to say but really didn't want to slam anyone and just let it go. When this latest injustice transpired, I happened to still have that email, and I decided to come here and let people know so that they wouldn't also be stolen from.
I only meant to post once just for info for others, but others keep posting, and I catch the notice in my email. I really don't have much else to say about it, though. The facts are what they are. If Joe decides to do the right thing and refund the prorated amount, I'll sure post that too, but I'm not looking for it to happen.

More than welcome. As long as I can save someone else a bad experience, then mine can have something positive salvaged from it.....

[foobic]

"Tough stuff?" I am suspicious that I am speaking with Joe, here? If not, please let me know if you own a hosting company. I'll want to steer clear of yours too, though I wish you the best, Joe or Whoever.... I just hope if this is you, Joe, that you will be stopped from scamming people at whim. I am sorry for you that you treat people badly, and I hope life improves for you.Guess again. Dan is a regular here and although there's a degree of anonymity on a forum I'm sure there are many here who'd tell you with some certainty that he's not Joe! If you follow the link in his sig you can judge for yourself, and learn about choosing a good host - which could be valuable information right now.
Sorry you've had problems. The hosting industry is largely unregulated and some hosts don't behave as well as they could / should. Then again, the same could be said for some users. Whatever the cause, legal action is generally futile - chalk it up to experience and move on with a host you feel you can trust (and pay monthly!).
(No, I'm not Joe either)

Hey there "not Joe either," (apologies to Dan)....
Thanks for the advice. I'll do what you suggested. I do need to know how to wisely choose a host next time. Our needs right now are not crucial, so I've got time to research and decide.
Yes, I'm sure the same could be said of some users. Maybe that is why Joe is so obstinate and rude; he is tired of dealing with the public. As a former city cop, I sure understand frustration in that.
I will also pay monthly from now on, even if it means paying a bit more!
Good advice and thanks! Y'all take care!
Robin

[ldcdc]

No.... I did not file the PayPal dispute until after he told me to get off of his servers and refused the prorated refund I requested following that. Looks like I misunderstood the sequence of events, and my approach in the earlier post could be improved upon. Sorry about that. Not one of my best moments.
In that legal contract, I have a reasonable expectation that I will receive the full year I have paid for without being arbitrarily cut off. If he decides on a whim to end the service of customers who have paid, then customers made aware of this will not sign with him. That is my desire and hope in posting; that no one else gets stolen from. A refund for services not rendered seems like a fair thing to ask, especially if the TOS was different when you signed up. No arguments there.
Just to confirm what Chris said, yes, I'm not Joe. That's not a common name at all where I live.

Hi Dan....
After Chris said you were Dan and not Joe, I just figured you had to deal with PEOPLE all day! :-) God help us all!
I actually probably didn't even need to post here on this forum, as it appears to me that y'all are basically owners of hosting cos. and won't be in the market for Joe's services? I don't know why that Joe dude wanted kudos here amongst other hosting cos.
At least I know who to check with first when I get ready to put the websites back up. Problem is, you're all so nice, I'll have a hard time deciding who to go with! Guess I'd better check out your links, Dan.
Thanks to Chris for filling in the communication gap. I'm sorry I accused you of being Joe, Dan. Is Dan a common name where you're from?? :-) I found out Joe is in Florida, but Joe is a common name here in Texas. I like the name! (If Joe had been here in Texas, I would've probably visited him....)
Best to all of you!
Robin

[iHubNet-Matt]

Robin09,
Sorry to hear you are having such troubles with your provider. I appreciate your efforts to help others by posting your experience here. Dan is not only a regular member,he is a reputed member in many forums. I have never seen he makes a reply without properly reading the whole post. May be his bad moments as he said. Best of luck to find a new provider which is reliable and caring.